Supervisors Welcome the Challenge to Revitalize the Theater
In an attempt to put a positive spin on the County’s defeated music hall proposal, the supervisors lauded the city after a unanimous council vote effectively turned the management of the beleaguered San Jose Repertory Theater over to the county.
“This is truly a grand day,” said Supervisor Alvarado, the music hall’s champion. “The county can finally bask in victory while also celebrating the munificence, generosity, and selflessness of or friends in San Jose.”
After pointing out that her three superlatives mean the same thing, County Executive Pete Kutras stressed that the focus shouldn’t be on words, but actions.
“We have already submitted a feasibility study,” explained Mr. Kutras, “authored by long-time county lobbyist Ed Alvarez of Silicon Valley Advisors, in conjunction with his clients Turner Construction and House of Blues, that show positive revenue projections somewhere in year 15 of the proformas – this, all without county subsidies after year seven.”
A detailed analysis of the financial forecast shows these rosy revenue projections being met only after an extensive revitalization: Turner Construction will enlarge the theater’s seating capacity to 7,021 seats; all repertory performances will be restricted to weekdays from 11:00am - 4:00pm; and control of the venue’s evenings will be turned over to House of Blue’s for programming.
Anschutz Entertainment Group will be the managing promoters of the Rep, and on the advice of Silicon Valley Advisors, expressed a strong desire to move the venue to the County Fairgrounds or Fremont.
“This is a win-win-win,” said Mr. Alvarez. “Why else would Pete Kutras be so strongly in favor of this project if he did not believe it would benefit all consultants evenly.”
In related news, Supervisors Beall, Kniss and McHugh were immediately awarded additional six-year terms for their votes against the boondoggle.
I did notice in today’s Merc that replacing the Rep’s board of trustees was not one of the reforms. Too bad. So many qualified people yet so little oversight.
If the city is going to bail out the Rep, I would like to see more disclosure such as minutes of board of trustee meetings posted on the Rep’s web site.
The solution to the Rep is simple but probably too late: Ms. Near knows what productions will sell seats. She obviously knows how to produce them. She did a great job when at the Montgomery venue and the first two seasons in the blue box.
However, she came down with artist’s delusions of adequacy and decided SJ needed/wanted avant-garde productions.
The Rep board should insist Ms. Near return to “popular” productions and have no more than one or two “educational” productions per season. She would know exactly what that means.
People know art and good shows when they see them. Ms. Near knows too. She needs to be up front, admit her mistakes and promise to return to “popularity”.
If she doesn’t show contrition then replace her with someone who is willing to give the public what they want.
So, yeah, give the Rep the money they need to get out of Ms. Near’s problem coupled with her promise to be “popular”.
I’m not confident Ms. Near can be reclaimed because one would have thought she would have recognized the problem in the first place. As for the Board: they are usually wasted positions so resumes can look good. Each is handed a rubber stamp when they join the board.
Come on Ms. Near, join a twelve step program and return to your former self…
BTW – the Rep could be sold to a private concern and then the City’s problem could be solved. How about asking Keith Watt of Le Petit Trianon fame to take over control of the Rep? This guy knows how to sell seats. He ain’t no artist but knows art when he sees it…
The Rep should be showing Mamma Mia, Hairspray, Beach Blanket Babylon type shows. Why not?
#4 Those shows are put on by travelling shows at the Center of Performing Arts usually though the City Lights production of Jesus Christ Superstar was fantastic in a small theater! Hey, why not let them take over the rep – I’m sure that they could lots with the amount of money the Rep has been blowing through the past few years.
Okay, now they said that they are only going to spend as much as they take in? Laughable!
Maybe JohnM O’C could get his tree hugger performers to put on a matinee show at the Rep with the Salamander Chorus. I’m sure that would really whet the interest of many local citizens. They could have an encore of the Banana Slug Sliders of Santa Cruz. I hear good reviews of that group from some student friends at the University over there.
I think SVSE should take over management of the Rep and plug in an NBA franchise…
WHERE’S SUSAN HAMMER TO AGAIN BAIL OUT HER ILLEGITIMATE CHILD THE “REP”. SHE TRAINED THEM TO JUST CRY AND THEY WOULD GET WHAT THEY WANTED. I SEE ANOTHER FAVORITE OF HERS IS BROKE AND IN DEBT ALSO. THE FAILED MEXICAN HERITAGE IN EAST SAN JOSE. WHAT’S UP WITH ALL THESE PLACES GOING BROKE AND IN DEBT. GOT TO UESED TO BEING BAILED OUT.
#6: that might sell in Santa Cruz or Marin, but not here. All six environmental activists in Santa Clara County are on this blog. They can’t fill a house, even if you count friends and families.
Maybe they could join up with the PAC crowd and file a lawsuit to save the ugly blue box from being scraped to make way for more yuppie condos.
8 – Actually, only a very small percentage of the “envrionmental activists” are on this site. Keep in mind that over 50,000 voters signed the petition to put the Land Conservation Initiative on this November’s ballot. That’s a few more than six by my count.
#7 – why are all these “heritage” attractions going broke? BECAUSE SAN JOSE DOESN’T CARE! Mexican Heritage, Vietnamese Heritage, our own city’s heritage at History Park…NO ONE GIVES A DAMN!!!
Until the electorate of this city starts caring about its collective direction and not its own personal agendas, this city is sunk.